Hello,
On my Skyrocket signal strength of LTE and HSPA showing are different in the same physical location. Is it expected? I thought it all comes from the same ATT tower and singal strength would be the same.
I'm on the Rogers Network here in Toronto, Canada and I get full signal bars when in HSPA and 1-2 bars while on 4G LTE.
All this from the same physical location.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA App
artisticcheese said:
Hello,
On my Skyrocket signal strength of LTE and HSPA showing are different in the same physical location. Is it expected? I thought it all comes from the same ATT tower and singal strength would be the same.
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I know for a fact that when you compare EDGE with 3G, EDGE signal has much more range and strength than 3G. On my old iPhone, I would have 2-3 bars on 3G, but it would jump upto a full 5 if I switched to EDGE.
I'm guessing the same relationship applies to HSPA/+ and LTE.
EDIT:
Also, the phenomenon of cell tower breathing could be taking place. If a lot of people are using the LTE, but only a few are using the HSPA+, the HSPA signal will be stronger. The more people who are using a cell signal, the radius of that signal shrinks. The less people using it, the radius grows. Like it's breathing.
The reason for the difference is because AT&T has more HSPA+ towers out then LTE towers, or hasn't properly modified the HSPA+ towers to work for LTE, so HSPA+ will get much better signal, but LTE will still be a lot faster.
Related
ive noticed that i get a 4g and a 2g icon but wheres the 3g icon? has anyone seened it?
Travling through the middle of nowhere over the last 3 days I've seen, no signal, G, 2G, 3G, & 4G. It's there.
I also have not seen the 3G icon. I drive through the city and would think when I get out if 4G I would at least still be in a 3G area. Wonder if something may be wrong....
Sent from my T-Mobile G2X using XDA app.
Cyberdan3 said:
I also have not seen the 3G icon. I drive through the city and would think when I get out if 4G I would at least still be in a 3G area. Wonder if something may be wrong....
Sent from my T-Mobile G2X using XDA app.
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Same here but this is the first 4G device I have had and I know for a fact most of my city is covered by 4G. What is also weird is that in areas where I would have 1 or 2 bars with my Vibrant, it is telling me I have full bars worth of 4G with the G2X.
its there in the framwork i checked..
Im just wondering why it doesnt display 3G when its on UMTS... it sticks to 4G all the time...
very strange in the instruction manual it also shows 3g icon!
Rmoved
Sent from space
death1246 said:
its there in the framwork i checked..
Im just wondering why it doesnt display 3G when its on UMTS... it sticks to 4G all the time...
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A lot of this has to do with the fact that T-Mobile's 3G towers == their 4G towers so if you're in an area where all of their towers have been upgraded to HSPA+ you will NEVER show 3G because you're always on a 4G tower. The only time you will show a 3G signal is if you're in an older area where they have pre-HSPA+ upgradeable towers. This is how T-mobile can say they have the biggest 4G network because almost all of their old HSPA/3G equipment has been turned into 4G equipment via software upgrades.
I have had my g2x for about 5 days and all I ever see is 4G or E never 3g. I have been checking in the settings/about phone/status and even when the phone is showing 3-4 bars of 4G it is still on umts. In the exact same location and within a minute or so when checking it with my Vibrant I will have 3 bars of H or 3G and in status it shows as hspda or hspda+. What is that about? I have checked this out at least 6 to 7 times a day and it is always the same only umts on the G2X and Hspda or Hspda+ on the Vibrant. I called CS and they wanted to send out another G2X I reluctantly said yes. I do really like this phone and will try to be patient but the device I have now has multiple issues. I am going to take the stance that this is an isolated case and the new one will be golden!!!
brentil said:
A lot of this has to do with the fact that T-Mobile's 3G towers == their 4G towers so if you're in an area where all of their towers have been upgraded to HSPA+ you will NEVER show 3G because you're always on a 4G tower. The only time you will show a 3G signal is if you're in an older area where they have pre-HSPA+ upgradeable towers. This is how T-mobile can say they have the biggest 4G network because almost all of their old HSPA/3G equipment has been turned into 4G equipment via software upgrades.
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This is true. There's pretty much no need for a '3G' icon. Though, technically, it's debatable whether or not T-Mo's (or any other carriers) offerings right now are actually '4G' (according to the standards committees that define those things), but that's a different argument
tl;dr: T-Mo's 3G and 4G operate on pretty much the same technology, so if you're in an area where there was 3G, you'll probably have 4G. It doesn't need to switch back and forth or be toggled like the other solutions (looking at you Wi-Max)
So I know all the issues with older 2g sims affecting speeds, I called tmobile, and they said that I was in fact registered with a 2g sim, so I had them activate the sim that came in the box, but I have no improvement in speed. I'm still getting nowhere above 2mbps, most of the time around 1. I know I have a 4g data plan, they added that when I got the phone for immediate activation, not next billing cycle. Even in areas where my old mytouch 3G slide got 4 mbps on the 3G HSPA network, I can't get much above 2 on the HSPA+ network. What gives? If the new 4g sim and data plan aren't working, what's the issue here? Anyone else having issues?
Are you sure that you're connected to HSPA+? And, even if you are connected with good reception to a HSPA+ tower, that doesn't mean that the tower has good bandwidth backhaul. If its a low traffic tower, T-Mobile might not want to pay for a large amount of bandwidth for it.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
I suppose I can't be positive, but the icon says 4G. Although I've never seen a 3G icon, only G, 2G, and 4G, meaning they probably just replaced the 3G icon with the 4G icon since the phone can't technically display a different icon for HSPA and HSPA+, can it? I've never seen a 3G icon so I might just be connected to 3G. But even in populous areas, like downtown, at night, I top out at 4, MAYBE 5 mbps. I've heard people getting 4 or 5 on a bad day, 7-8 average and 10-12 if they're lucky. I'm wondering where that's at, maybe it's a flaw in the stock rom and an AOSP or other custom rom would be better. I seem to remember having bad speeds on sense on my Slide too.
During data transfer, I went to the about phone>network menu, and mobile network type reads HSDPA and then reverts to UMTS after a period of inactivity. It does not specify HSDPA+ though, it just says HSDPA. I understand that the 3g and 4g networks on tmobile are technically one and the same, HSDPA+ is just an advancement of the 3G technology, but I'm wondering if something just isn't clicking and the phone isn't taking advantage of HSDPA+. I checked the coverage map, and the entire region I live in, minus a few rural areas, are supposed to be covered by 4G data.
Well the name of the phone is the samsung infuse 4g. My phone is rooted running CM10. And for some reason, since I got it, it has always run on 3g (or some other network). Is it an additional service to pay for to get 4g? I have AT&T
It is not true 4g even though it is in the name.... AT&T calls it something like 3g+ with enhanced backhaul.
By editing a few image files, I can make your phone show that it's running on a 6g+ network.
The rom that you are using is probably showing closer to the real connection that you'really getting.
sent from outer space.
Exactly as both have said...infuse doesn't have real 4G...it has H+ which like pony said said is more like 3G+
And with a simple edit to the framework-res you can make it display whatever you want...doesn't mean you will actually
Have it but it will be displayed...back in the gb days I ditched out the h+ icon for a 4glte icon so the phone displayed 4g LTE even though it was on H+
Cyanogenmod only displays up to H. They also have a more accurate service "detector"
Sent from my HTC Holiday using Tapatalk 2
like they said. the infuse has faux-g not 4g. atleast not lte 4g. bassically att has had umts with hspa for a while which is technically 3g+ or 3.5 g in othe rcountries. att just decided to advertise it all as 3g so that they can say they have the fastest 3g network with a huge 3g coverage map even if the area didn't have the hspa aspect of it working instead of a huge 3g map and a small 3.5 g map. then they came out with hspa+ with "enhanced backhaul" which now things get confusing do they call it 3g++? or 3.75g? nope some government agency decide that since we have different technologies running on different networks 4g is not a definition of service type but as long as the theoretical speed is above 10mbps or something they can advertise 4g. so att does, they just put a little disclaimer in the fine print "4g speeds made availible through hspa+ with enhanced backhaul"
well the infuse takes this a step further in the factory firmware and doesn't report 3g, hspa and hspa+ as seperate connection statuses. it just assumes h+ anytime you have a umts connection.
so basically you've been lied to by your phone and deceived by marketing practices. all the cell companies deceive. they select the information that makes the look best and only show you that.
Its LTE not 4g. That's why it usually says H+ instead of 4g
Either way 850KB/s is enough for me. (Sorry for the weird picture my screen is 160dpi)
P.s. my GPS didn't lock in time. I'm in Sacramento and the server is 3000 miles away in Florida. (350 ping)
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
My N5 is not great at picking up LTE service. My AT&T signal is weak at my house and I don't get LTE, although my Galaxy S2 used to connect that way. Not sure if the phone really doesn't see it or if it thinks it's too weak and HSPA would work better.
(Sending from a moving bus so please bear with me)
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
rochrunner said:
My N5 is not great at picking up LTE service. My AT&T signal is weak at my house and I don't get LTE, although my Galaxy S2 used to connect that way. Not sure if the phone really doesn't see it or if it thinks it's too weak and HSPA would work better.
(Sending from a moving bus so please bear with me)
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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I have the same issue on T-Mobile. My phone sucks about picking up and using LTE whereas my Nexus 4, a phone that required hacking to get LTE enabled, was a champ. My N4 would remain on LTE all day while in the city regardless of signal strength with no real observable detriment to my battery.
With the Nexus 5, I'm lucky to have it switch to LTE in high signal areas. My Nexus 5 will stay on LTE if I force it to connect using LTE Only (you lose voice with this setting) under the secret dialer menu (*#*#4636#*#*), but if I let the phone decide, it sticks with 3G/HSPA+.
I'm paying for LTE and I want to use it, damn it! LTE at half signal strength is still faster than HSPA+ at full strength for me on T-Mobile.
Actually as I travel along the Ohio Turnpike it is not doing too badly, picking up LTE as we pass near metro areas (Toledo, Cleveland). It is also working great tethering my tablet with Wi-Fi as well.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
I'm having the exact same issue here I'm in the Los Angeles area and I have experienced good speeds on LTE up to 23 down and 12 up but one thing I have noticed is my LTE drops a lot in to H. I'm coming from Verizon which always stayed on LTE locked in so I guess I was spoiled. I left verizon because I got sick of them hating on Nexus Phones but man right now I'm hating these LTE drops on AT&T. But I know for a fact that it's a phone problem because when the phones goes from LTE to H I can manually restore the LTE but I can't get it to stay locked. I called them and they're response was it's just the phone switching from tower to tower.
Hi everyone,
I was looking around and I read that the Nexus is suppose to fallback to HSPA when the LTE signal is weak or non-existent.
I was curious as to when the phone actually considers the LTE signal weak. In my room, I only get 1 bar on LTE (~115 dBm), sometimes losing the signal completely, however I have never actually seen it fallback to HSPA.
So my question is, when does the phone automatically switch from LTE to HSPA?
Thanks in advance!
Current setting on my phone:
LTE (Recommended) is selected as the "Preferred network type"
[LTE/GSM auto (PRL) in the hidden menu]
Yes it will automatically switch when you not in a LTE area.. Its not based on signal strength.. Its based on your area and the area without Lte must have hspa to work or it will switch to 3g or Edge if hspa is unavailable...
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium HD app
As in previous reply, it only falls back if there is no signal. Sometimes signals are weak and connection drop. Your phone tries to connect back to LTE. Since LTE signals are still in the air, it wouldn't switch to HSPA. If you think you will benefit from HSPA compared to LTE, you can manually change it.
areazus said:
As in previous reply, it only falls back if there is no signal. Sometimes signals are weak and connection drop. Your phone tries to connect back to LTE. Since LTE signals are still in the air, it wouldn't switch to HSPA. If you think you will benefit from HSPA compared to LTE, you can manually change it.
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Hey, thanks for the quick reply.
I guess now my question is, how long will the phone wait before it gives up on looking for a LTE signal and switch to HSPA?
I initially thought that the phone would fall back to HSPA if the LTE signal is too weak.
Thanks in advance!